A Forgotten Shadow...

[Anonymous]

A man in ragged and torn clothing lies unconscious.  He is covered in his own blood, bruises all over his person, including an exceptionally bad wound to the forehead.  The ground beneath him is miraculously unstained even with his enormous blood shed.  To his side lie two battle worn kris, a belt full of kunai knives, and a ragged sakkat.

A cool breeze blows around him as his eyelids begin to slowly open...

He found himself in a grassy plain.  He attempted to dart upward, unaware of his surroundings but fell to the ground as his legs gave out in fatigue...

Where.... where am I? …what is this place?

His head began to throb in pain and he felt as the world was spinning around him.  He struggled to keep his consciousness and started to try and figure out what was going on.  His mind was unable to answer most of his questions.  He had no idea where he was... and only remembered his name...

Zathain... I am Zathain.

The man looked around and saw nothing but a grassy plain and a few small trees. His head began to throb with nearly unbearable pain and consciousness slowly faded from his mind once again.

[Anonymous]

.usually, grasslands were not her choice of dwelling. today was different, for today was remarkably warm in comparison to the many before it. so, out and about in tha savage grasp of the sunlight she was, prancing around the fields like a merry child. and matching the part. long, waving blonde hair fell behind or around her as she bounced about, a moderately length white gown strung about her miniature frame. though she was completely unaware at the time being of her injured company. tiny strands of wound blades from the grass decorated not only her hair, but her neck in a hemp sort of design, wrists and ankels as well. bordem got to anyone, she simply embraced it.

.SIREN'S oblivious frollicking came to a rather abrupt hault as, to her amazement, something in her area began to speak. and even more remarkable, she could understand what it was saying. and a frantic search began. acute senses drove her farther into the grass, stepping carefully among the shrubs and towering bundles. outstanding blue eyes lay themselves almost curiously about a shining object. seclusion made to her to the point of innocence it was almost considered ignorance. she honestly didn't know that it was a knife, or weapon of any sort. but she did take note of the man sprawled out beside it in an unnatural manner.

.the maiden, being of a petite frame, tucked herself carefuly behind a small shrub, observing the male with utmost attention - although he wasn't moving, no matter how hard she stared. her foot slid along the ground a few inches, slowly, before she would venture onward, keeping herself low to the ground, she moved in for an investigation. small, peaked ears twitched at his grumbles, haulting her ingression upon him until once again his chest fell and his voice was hushed.

.she came to her knees beside him, gazing over him as she did a terrible job saving him. ZATHAIN was he? he looked much like the one that held her captive many years ago the same race perhaps?. however, it gave her no bias and soon a dainty hand settled upon his chest, shaking lightly to try and wake him again. if this failed, she supposed that she could spare a small portion of her drinking water to revive the strange fellow.

[Anonymous]

As he tread through the grass, Acaudric sighed heavily, not knowing the destination toward which he headed.  For many years he had searched for his brother, but to no avail.  Whenever he seemed to come close to an answer it hovered just beyond his grasp and eluded him.  Some strange and mysterious force had drawn him to this realm which led him to believe his brother was here.  Even here in this grassy field he could feel Vaerid's prescence, though Acaudric was sure that he was no where near this place.  

He stood completely still, long blades swaying around him, his emerald green cloak sweeping out behind him in the slight breeze.  As he removed a few long strands of raven hair from his face his eyes swept the meadow, seeing only the scattered trees and tall grass that inhabited it.  Finally, they stopped upon a white figure in the distance.  As he looked closer, he could see that the figure was female and was crouching over something.  What, he wondered, was it that she was kneeling beside?

Acaudric slowly began to approach the white-clad, light haired woman.  Her hair was so bright that it looked as though she had a halo about her and shed a faint light on all things around her small, slender form.  

As he drew closer, he finally saw what it was that the mysterious woman was leaning above.  Never before had Acaudric seen a man wounded like this before...

[Anonymous]

.SIREN'S vibrant gaze gradually climbed that of the opposing figure. him towering her very easily, she only crouched a bit more almost fearful looking. her heart thrashed at her rib cage, trying to escape because it was so excited, or scared. she wasn't exactly sure yet. having seen no other human like creature in decades, maybe even a century...now out of no where she had herself two. the first was no threat since he wasn't even conscious. but the second made her nervous and after only a few moments the maiden fled.

.she didn't make it very far, as curiousity easily seduced her. she made it just far enough that the man couldn't do harm to her, so she concluded. she remained silent during all of this. even her departure, if it could really be called that, was almost completely soundless. porcelain features exaggerated themselves to try and observe what these two beasts would do to one another. whether the latter of the two would show humility and save the other. or end him right then and there to take his possessions. she had little faith in the human races, so she prepared to observe a slaughter. shame though, the victim interested her, would be nice to find out who put him here.



((it's kind of stoopid. i know =( but i was bored so i HAD to post. lol))

[Anonymous]

"Why do you flee from me?  I mean no harm."

The woman was simply beautiful.  Her radiance seemed to loame in the air around her.  Acaudric then noticed her peaked ears and realized that she was an elf.  With much effort Acaudric looked away from the elf to the man lying on the ground.

"What happened to this man," he asked sincerely.

The form lying on the ground appeared dead at first glance, but after further inspection the rising and falling of his chest was obvious.  His wounds were terrible and needed to be tended to quickly or infection would spread and the man would die.  Acaudric then kneeled down, ripped a long strip of cloth from the end of his cloak and began rapping up some of this battle worn warrior's injuries.

"Do you know how long he has been here?"

[Anonymous]

.she ventured a modest few steps closer to the duo as it seemed he was gentle enough. her brow raised slightly as she barely peered over the grass to see the one on the ground. I know not of his fate. Nor of his condition. I found him only moments ago. SIREN'S voice was light and harmoneous. she spoke very softly, as to draw in the listeners attention by forcing them to focus on her voice in order to understand what was being said to them. quite clever in that way. her arms folded about her body as ACAUDRIC mended the other's wounds so it seemed. blood would easily soak the cloth however. she knew this. also knowing that she could heal him if she so chose, she instead remained a spectator. willing herself to see what the two could accomplish without the help of her magic. she would never tell either of them, but she had no intentions of letting the nearly slain man die before her. near immortality gave her a different perspective. to her, he was only hurt. not in any true danger. and those that could be terminated so easily had much more will power. she admired this, and so there she stood, cruely admiring.

.as she pondered this being, she slowly took in his image, in a way as to remember it. beginning at his ankels and moving upward with an unreadable expression. her voice again broke the silence enshrouding them, inquiry spilling forward in the same straining manner. and so then, sir...whom might you be? exactly? had her tone not been so whimsical, the question may have even seemed rude.

[Anonymous]

He had made an effort to clean up most of the blood so as to prevent too much hemoraging and had used some simple herbs from a small leather pouch on his belt to help with the worst injuries.  Fighting off the urge to lick up the blood that coated the wounded man was nearly impossible, but after 1800 years of life Acaudric had developed very good self control.  He had worked all his life at trying to conceal the fact that he was a vampire and was ever more fearful of people finding out.  Acaudric stood and turned to face the woman when he was finished.

"I am called Acaudric.  I have travelled here from Serendipity and I honestly haven't the slightest clue as to my destination.  And now you seem to be the only conscious person left unnamed.  Now, what name would a fair elf maiden such as youself be called?"

(ShadowCrusader wanted me to inform you that he has been very busy lately and that is why he has not awoken yet)

[Anonymous]

.she watched as he tended to the wounded warrior, or whatever he was there lying on the ground. platinum locks of hair befell her face, framing it and enhancing the vibrance of her eyes. she forced one leg to hold her entire weight, shifting so that the other could rest itself and also to try and put on an image as though she was disinterested, and not at all fearful of him. i, mi'lord, ACAUDRIC, am SIREN. i don't suppose that there is any reason that you have chosen to venture off into no where, with what looks to be very minimal supplies. she stated flatly, though adding a bit of a cute smirk to the end as she used the oppertunity of her comment to eye him again. slowly growing comfortable next to his towering form.

.had she known that this "man" was actually vampyre material...she would have drawn herself at much more of a distance. for afterall what blood could be better than that of a fellow immortal being? elves, or elven creatures like herself had very simple defenses and were not very hard to overpower. so luckily, he was good at hiding this, or his company would have retreated as quickly as managable. having not been around any other beings for quite some time, she didn't catch onto tell-tale signs the way that her insticts should have allowed her. to SIREN, he seemed but a human male.

.no destination say you, though? on those terms i am rather like you. i wonder what our little friend here was doing. seems unlikely that he received his wounds here. there is no blood on the ground. no signs of a fight. someone took it upon themselves to carry him all the way out here. and alive. seems strange to me, though i am not an expert on these things.

[Anonymous]

(Sorry this took so long... schools coming back up and I had to get crap ready. :D)

Zathain's eyes slowly opened to find a man hovering over him.  He jumped away from him and grabbed where his daggers normally hung from his belt.  His leg gave out again and he sat upon the ground.  He thought of getting into a battle stance, but saw the man was not in any kind of aggressive stance, and showed no signs of getting into a fight.  He whispered under his breath, "Dang it... what the heck is going on here..."

He looked to the man's side and saw a woman.  Never had he seen such woman with such bright skin and hair.  Both of these figures looked relatively peaceful, and the woman lacked a weapon.  He relaxed and saw they had a bit of a shocked expression on their faces, followed by a tone of relief.

He looked at himself and saw he had blood stained bandages about his wounds.  He concluded these people were peaceful... they could have easily ended his life long ago.

He reached over and put on his worn sakkat upon his head to shield him from the blazing sun and calmly spoke with a dazed and confused expression...

"Where.... where am I?"

[Anonymous]

.his sudden awakening destroyed her "cool, calm" demeanor and sent her hidden fear straight into the open. when he sprung forth her eyes shot open as she stole a frieghtened gasp. she tucked herself behind the other man. small fists clentched to his clothing as her face burrowed into a safe place. or what she thought was a safe place. forgetting entirely that other people had mannors, not to mention mannorisms and hers were probably very eccentric to them. she waited a few moments before slowly circulating around him to peer out onto the other man. once as she could safely conclude that this man was violent only because he was intoxicated by blood loss and heat, she stepped out from behind ACAUDRIC and took her chances wandering to the stranger. neither of us know. he is just as lost as you, and i...have no name for this place, it is simply where i spend my time.

she looked over his injuries once again. wondering just what this creature, or human, whichever had been through in the past few days. have you any idea what has happened to you?




((that's fine =) ))

[Anonymous]

Zathian let out a weak chuckle and began to speak between his heavy breathing.

"I'm not quite sure if I should be relieved or frightened that I’m not the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on... I found myself here a few days ago maybe... passed out before I got a chance to move..."

He coughed and felt a sharp pain in his chest.  dang it... broken rib maybe? Hope not... He attempted to mask his pain, he didn't enjoy being pitied.  These two definitely didn't need another reason to pity me.

"I have no idea where I am... where I’m from... Heck, I don’t even know my last name.  All I remember is a face..."

The image was burned into his mind. He couldn't send it away, regardless of how hard he tried.

"Burning red eyes that glowed in the darkness...  The face of a corpse lacking a soul for ages... "

[Anonymous]

.a narrow eyebrow contoured in such a way to show doubt toward his words. she hadn't seen anything like that around here. and so she was inclined to believe him to be incapable of actual intelligent conversation at this point. forgetting of course that she hadn't seen one of these in ages as well, and now here were two. but SIREN'S mind did not work in that fashion. perhaps we should take him from the sun? narrow set shoulders shrugged as she looked up to ACAUDRIC for his input on the situation. her lack of companionship in so many years past lead her to place quite a bit of importance into their "relationship" as far as aquaintences were concerned. since her opinion had been the only one she could account for, his seemed substantial and of utmost importance.

[Anonymous]

"Yes.  Perhaps getting him out of the sun would be better."
Still recovering from the fact that Siren had buried herself into his back upon the wounded man springing up, Acaudric played back Zathain's words in his head.  This was a strange situation indeed.  A injured human spontaneously turning up in a field with no knowledge of how he arrived there is no normal occurence.

"It could be that you fought someone here and lost badly," he said addressing Zathain.  "But then there would be signs of a battle all over this field.  Signs that do not exist here right now.  Your wounds are also very peculiar.  They do not look as normal injuries appear.  It looks more like a disease than battle scars...."

[Anonymous]

.upon hearing of this disease, that she was now convinced must be what was happening to him, her eyes opened widely again and her milky fingers slapped up against her mouth as careful breathing continued through her nose. she took a step back from ZATHAIN, if there was a plague that she was unaware of, she would only wish to remain that way. in her peaceful little oblivion out here in the...who knows, wilderness of some sort. she would have abandoned the likes of these two men long ago, only they were entertainment for the time being. not to mention, sitting in silence for decades had a negative effect on a social creature such as an elven woman. she decided it would be of her wiser choices to remain silent for now and just watch as these things played out, and try not to be contaminated. for immortals, she figured plagues were worse. you became disfigured, disgusting, rediculously sick, weak, and miserable...but didn't die. which was, basically the only relief from such a horrid fate.

.feeling sympathetic toward ZATHAIN, she carefully extended one arm, handing to him a very small container of water. build for someone of her stature to quench themselves with, not nearly someone like them. however, it would help if nothing else, and the water inside was still very cool since they had all discovered each other in the beginning of her play.

.her resolution of silence ended as quickly as it had been bourne. how do you suppose we move him?. forgetting of course that he may be able to walk. so, she looked back to the one on the ground. are you able to walk?.

[Anonymous]

(lol holy crap... thats what you call taking it easy!?  vaerid tells me he posted, i read it, and you already post something? you scare me. XD)

Zathain attempted to stand up.  He thought, "I'm already hurt physically... don’t need my pride to take a hit too." He stood up remarkably well for his condition.  His legs seemed to have gotten the least amount of damage.  He slowly walked over to the shade of the nearest tree and laid himself down.

"Good to know at least one part of me still works...  A disease you say?  Well... I feel like I was run over by a horse, but that to be expected with all these wounds.  I do feel, strange, however.  I feel like my left hand is... fading."

He figured this was a good time to take off his glove to investigate.  Hidden beneath the worn leather was his pale hand.  His hand was scrawny and bony, almost skeletal.  His skin seemed to get lighter and lighter as it drew closer and closer to the fingertips.  As it was introduced to the fresh air, it produced a rancid stench... the scent of a decaying body.

(and vaerid thinks that elfs are immune to disease or soemthing... -shrug-)

[Anonymous]

((Actually, now that I think about it, they are, yes. LOL))



.she scrutinized his decaying hand, her face twisting into a scowl of sorts as her nose wrinkled to her disgust. keen senses drew the odor from his rotting hand to her attentive nose. her hand moved to hold onto her nose as to repel the lingering, rancid smell. her eyes winced a little as she continued to study it, wondering if she could, perhaps fix just one for him, just one for her own sake. the smell was so heavy in the air that she could almost taste it, and without fixing it, she may have become sick.

.reaching out to him she placed her hand within his, and moments later a faint hue of healthy skin began to sweep over the withering flesh that looked as though it was preparing to simply fall from his bones. the fleshy skin of his palms would recover itself within a few minutes, and his natural color continued to fade into the white. i have never seen...smelt anything quite like that before. there is something very wrong

[Anonymous]

Zathain sat in awe.  He had just witnessed two things he had never seen before: A decaying, but still living hand, and some sort of magic.

"Well then... that’s something new."

He didn't know what to say.  He was so confused with these two things that he had never even heard of before that he forgot to even thank her.  He moved is fingers about a bit.  The feeling within them had returned, but he could still feel it slowly fading from existence.

"Uh... Anybody mind telling me what the heck that was?"

[Anonymous]

(I'm running a tad low on ideas right now so you two are more than welcome to post instead of me... or perhaps just you are, Siren)

[Anonymous]

.she was taken aback slightly by his amount of surprise. giggling to herself she pondered if this being had just missed the last, thousand years or so. then again her enjoyment ceased as she remembered that she was more or less unaware of most things anymore, either. magic, of course. what a silly boy. she wasn't sure whether or not the effects would last. but if nothing else, the stench was contained. she studied his hand a bit longer, trying to pull something from her memory that would explain his ailment. well, either way - your welcome. only bringing this up to embaress him or bring him guilt. ZATHAIN was, afterall, a man of sorts. men did not appreciate anything. ..anything.

.so then, ZATHAIN, what is the last thing that you remember, if anything?. he remembered his name. so, there had to be something in there. there were more memories, locked away some place inside that mind of his. perhaps something traumatic had happened, perhaps he was wounded on his head someplace where the memories would hide. but only for so long. eventually, something would have to trigger them. until then, she could only wonder. which would lead to yet another question. why on earth SIREN was so perplexed. why she was so...well, concerned could even be used. though let's not be too hasty. she didn't care for this man. just the mystery of his wounds. yes, only that and nothing more. hmm, and what a silly girl..

[Anonymous]

He quietly repeated her answer under his breath.  "Magic..."

A plethora of images raced into his head. Warriors controlling the elements, creating fire and ice from nothing, creating quakes that drew large groups to their knees, and glowing aura that healed the wounded.  A teaching he had heard before... a memory.  He began to think.  Why do I know these things?  I remember... training.
Another flashback played through his mind.  A child sits at a table, across from a small pile of dry twigs.  He focuses on this small pile for a long period of time until a small amount of smoke begins to rise.  His face relaxes and he begins to celebrate inside himself, but this joy slowly fades and the smoke quickly disperses.  The child lets out a silent sigh and begins to focus again.  The smoke never returns.

After a long while, he grows angry and ignored everything around him but the twigs.  The twigs never smoke again, but instead are knocked off of the table by a gust of wind.  The twigs never hit the ground, however, and are slowly lifted by a small column of air.  The twigs dance in the air as the boy puts a grin upon his face.

He snapped back into reality and looked at Siren and Acaudric.
"Magic: The art of altering natural forces to gain the powers of the elements: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and Life... "
Zathain lifted his arm and faced his palm by his weapons which he had carelessly left at his original location.  He conjured a small whirlwind which carried his weapons towards him and dropped them by his side.
"Well... that’s two things I remember now," he said as he grinned.  â€œNot a bad start.â€?
(is that a good definition or is there a specific one here?)